3 Vs 4--is it the money?

CM11

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In reading this forum it seems that the consensus is that if you make a college selection to an expensive school you are going to get a 3 yr instead of a 4 yr. Is this accurate? Is it based solely on $$?

thanks in advance.

Charles M
 
Just my opinion, but I doubt very much it is solely dollars. Nevertheless dollars will, and should be, a large factor. I expect much depends on who they are awarding it to.
 
I didn't stumble onto this website until after my ds had listed his 5 NROTC schools. His top 2 are expensive choices (one in state but private, one out of state and outrageous). Wish we had tweaked his list a little bit. The first choice would've stayed as he loves it but we could've switched up some of the big 10 schools that are further down the list.

Our hope is that if he does receive his first choice school but is not able to get in (NU) the sister NROTC school is one that we feel confident that he could get in to.

So many things to consider. Sure glad I found this website I have learned so much.
 
this is pure conjecture and opinion:

There are five types of colleges:

1) Private, $41k-$44k tuition+fees, and highly prestigious -- Top 30 in US News rankings... this category probably also includes UC Berkeley.
2) Private, $41k-$44k tuition+fees, and outside the top 30 (less prestigious)
3) Private, but for whatever reason, tuition+fees is less -- $30k - $36k
4) Public, but $25k-$30k tuition+fees b/c it is out of state for the applicant
5) Public, $9k - $16k tuition, in-state applicant

My impression is that Cadet Command has its focus in dollar allocation upon categories 1) and 5). That is where the Army get's its biggest bang for buck. I recall clearly that about 18 months ago, Cadet Command issued some comments about trying to use full private tuition Scholarships primarily for highly prestigious Universities, and less so for only moderately prestigious private universities. Without picking on any particular University, just think about private U not in the US News Top 30.

The category I wouldn't want to invest in, from the Army's perspective, is category 2). Why should the Army pay $180k tuition to, for example, Tulane or George Washington, or NYU when it can pay $45k to their public counterparts... LSU, U of Maryland and SUNY. At the end they get equally qualified 2LTs, and no PR value from the expensive, less prestigious, privates.

An interesting situation exists in southern Caifornia. UCLA, which is #25 I think in USNWR, has a small battalion. Tuition is $12,500 The same PMS serves Cal State Northridge, where tuition is about $8,000. Cal St. Northridge wouldn't be in the USNWR top 500 even. The Cal St. Northridge unit is probably 5x the size of the UCLA Battalion. I'm not sure why, but that's the way it is.
 
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2 yrs. ago my son and I went to a USMA regional meeting. There was a local rep for Tulane ROTC present. The way he explained it was like this:

Each school is allotted X amount of dollars. How that school chooses to allocate the money is mostly left up to them. Ex. Tulane was given X amount of money. That year they chose to have 4 - 4yr scholarships. The rest was 3 yr or in house scholarships. Therefore, public universities can offer more opportunities than private ones.

Now I know absolutely nothing about military practices. But I found that a bit confusing since CC is the one to dish out the scholarships. IDK???? I'm sure one of the ROTC administrators on here will be able to clarify that aspect.
 
3 or 4

Cajuncarrier, I'm guessing that the official from Tulane was talking about campus based scholarships. So based on MSI and MSII classes each battalion can divide money for 3s and 4s as they see fit.

Duninla, I agree, our DS is a cadet at what would be a category two, (using your model) and is crosstown with a category one. Although this year's MSI class is much larger than last year's, they're mostly 3 year scholarships.
 
Our (2) examples...

Daughter, 2010 HS graduate....didn't list any in state schools. #1 on her list was private (University or Portland), #2 was expensive out of state (Michigan), #3-7 also out of state but none private. Her ROTC options were #1, #2 and #4 where her letter came. It was 20 below at Michigan on the day we planned to visit. She went to Portland :thumb:

Son, 2012 HS graduate....also didn't list any in-state and only one private school (Gonzaga). Didn't get picked in the "standard" process but Boise State was his 1st choice and they called (3) weeks before school started and offered him a 4 year campus based scholarship. It was expalined to us that it was $$ from THEIR own pool of "spend it like you want to" money.
 
This year (I believe it started this year from what I have read) if you list 7 schools, then 3 must be publics. Of those publics, at least one must be in-state.

BTW, K2Rider, my DD is considering nursing at UP as well. It is tough because she has about 9 "favorites" at the moment!

--Biker
 
2012: It was explained to us that it was $$ from THEIR [PMS'] own pool of "spend it like you want to" money.
per a post from Clarkson about 18 months ago, Cadet command started offering fewer 4 yr. scholarships, and giving more money to each campus' PMS to divide as he/she sees fit for scholarship awards during the school year, after the new non-scholarship cadets have been evaluated ... As long as it fits the budget, that could be a bunch of 2yr. scholarships, a few 3 yr, or a couple of 4 yr, etc. But the key to that was a shift in some budget from the centralized Cadet Command Scholarship Board, to the on-campus scholarship awarding. The idea is that you make more mistakes awarding scholarships based upon paper files than you do evaluating a Scholarship applicant in person, over time.

Everything goes in a circle. Before 2010 and 2011 entering classes, I've read more scholarships were awarded by PMSs than by the Centralized Board. The balance shifted from local, to centralized, and now swinging back more to local. Oh, and neon clothing colors are back strong .. just like in 1988-1992. A 25 year cycle. My one Mammoth Mountain long sleeve T-shirt in Neon colors from 1990 was abducted by my younger daughter... she thinks its fashion FORWARD. Didn't bother to tell her it is 25 yr old fashion.
 
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per a post from Clarkson about 18 months ago, Cadet command started offering fewer 4 yr. scholarships, and giving more money to each campus' PMS to divide as he/she sees fit for scholarship awards during the school year, after the new non-scholarship cadets have been evaluated ... As long as it fits the budget, that could be a bunch of 2yr. scholarships, a few 3 yr, or a couple of 4 yr, etc. But the key to that was a shift in some budget from the centralized Cadet Command Scholarship Board, to the on-campus scholarship awarding. The idea is that you make more mistakes awarding scholarships based upon paper files than you do evaluating a Scholarship applicant in person, over time.

Everything goes in a circle. Before 2010 and 2011 entering classes, I've read more scholarships were awarded by PMSs than by the Centralized Board. The balance shifted from local, to centralized, and now swinging back more to local. Oh, and neon clothing colors are back strong .. just like in 1988-1992. A 25 year cycle. My one Mammoth Mountain long sleeve T-shirt in Neon colors from 1990 was abducted by my younger daughter... she thinks its fashion FORWARD. Didn't bother to tell her it is 25 yr old fashion.

Geez, I had better start digging in the back of my closet to find some clothes I can wear again.... :yllol:
 
K2Rider, I sent you a PM, in case you don't see it (doesn't jump out at you!)

--Biker
 
The idea is that you make more mistakes awarding scholarships based upon paper files than you do evaluating a Scholarship applicant in person, over time.

Good point and I actually agree with that theory. One of the reasons we made it a point to spend the $$ and fly up to Boise State and Gonzaga to meet with the PMS at each school. I have no doubt it made a difference in the end.
 
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